Re: gymnastics
- From: Ericka Kammerer <eek@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:35:50 -0400
Anne Rogers wrote:
anyone out there had a child take gymnastics to a highish level? particularly a boy?
I signed DD up for a parent and child gymnastics class as I wanted to do something with her and it fitted our schedule, DS came along too and was incredibly keen, so I ended up signing him up too, not really expecting anything in particular. It's turned out that he's quite good at it, not just at the doing of it, but he also has the right attitude and will repeat something over and over again until he gets it right.
This is an area I know nothing about, I don't know how you tell a good gymnastics coach from a bad one, or a good program from a bad program and so on. His current set of classes finishes next week and takes a months break. The place he does it currently is at the gym we belong to, it's in a relatively small room, with no fixed equipment, so they have to get it out and clear it away as part of class. This also means that he never sees anyone doing gymnastics other than the children in his class. So, I've looked to see if there is a full size gym locally and if they offer a preschool program, which there is and it must be popular as they have over 20 different class times just for his age group.
I'm trying to figure out if the time to move is now, the big gym is slightly further away, but probably makes up for that with the vast number of times available, the disadvantage is that not being the same site as the sports club, means no childcare facility for DD and having to hang around or find something to do that takes 50minutes, rather than being able to fit in a quick work out. Price doesn't help decide it as they are pretty much the same, though at the sports club they will prorate if you know you are missing some classes in advance.
I think the best thing you can do is ask around and
go to the gym and observe classes (ideally at different levels).
If there's a competitor anywhere nearby, observe there and get a
copy of their policies as well so you have a point of comparison.
Ask parents of kids who are several years older than your child
to see what's coming down he pike if he continues.
I think when it comes to activities that are demanding
on growing bodies, it's really important to have instructors
who are knowledgeable and careful to avoid injuries. If you're
thinking of possibly doing competitive gymnastics, that can
ramp up quickly in terms of the time commitment (not to
mention the financial commitment), so you can fairly rapidly
get to the point where quality of instruction makes a real
difference.
I think it's always a tough call when to switch to
somewhere more "serious." On the one hand, I think it's always
good to have high quality instruction from the get-go. On the
other hand, being in a more serious environment can either burn
a kid out quickly (if they don't like the competitive and
possibly high pressure environment) or throw you in the deep
water all too quickly (if the child takes off and wants to
get serious about training). It's not often that you find
really high quality instruction in a low pressure environment
with these things.
Ultimately, I think all you can do is gather as
much information as possible and make the best choice you
can at the time.
Best wishes,
Ericka
.
- References:
- gymnastics
- From: Anne Rogers
- gymnastics
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